


Within the Palace Walls

by LeenyLand



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, I can't help it, I love them so much, Post-Season/Series 03, SO MUCH FLUFF
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:13:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25480714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeenyLand/pseuds/LeenyLand
Summary: Zuko and Katara got together shortly after the gaang saved the world. Here are a few of their stories inside the walls of the castle in Calderra.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 111





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Kathleen here. I've literally never posted anything I've written before, except for one tiny little story when I was like 16. Despite this, I had a lot of fun writing this after devouring nearly every story about Zuko and Katara in the first four pages of this site when you search by kudos. Some of you guys are crazy genius's at writing cohesive stories! 
> 
> Also I can't really remember what's canon and what's not anymore! Sorry if the characters aren't quite true to who they should be. 
> 
> I might post another chapter of this but for now this is all I have. The little stories aren't in any order, just the order I wrote them in, but hopefully you can work out the timeline on your own.

Katara sat at the vanity table, fixing her hair before dinner when Zuko flung open the double doors to their shared appartments in the Fire Nation palace. With a scowl and huff he sat down hard on the end of the bed, placing his head in his hands. Katara, having just finished fixing the last strand of her loopy into place, got up and sat behind him on the bed and began rubbing his shoulders. 

Zuko groaned and leant back against his wife as she put her arms around his neck and pulled him closer against her. “Not a great meeting huh?” She asked him with a kiss against his cheek.

Zuko held onto her arms to keep them around him as he sat up a little out of her lap and ran his hands along the fine fabric of her silk sleeves. He was quiet for a moment as he focussed on the softness beneath his hands and then let out a heavy sigh. “I just can’t get anywhere with some of those old crows on the council!”. He turned around to look at her, “I’m supposed to be their Lord and they treat me like my opinion is worthless. I know - Agni knows - I’ve made some mistakes in the past but I’m trying. Katara, I’m trying.” He leaned his head against her shoulder.

Katara snorted. “Of course you are. The young ones know what you value, and they believe in the change your making around the nation. Even some of the old ones know it Zuko. And your staff continues to grow with remarkable politicians all the time. Your team is so strong now, and I still think you should just get rid of Xiao and Chang if they’re going to continue to be so pig headed about the policies.”

“You know I can’t Katara. They have political immunity because of the funds they contribute.” He scowled. “And they both know it too. We need their money for the hospitals to continue to go up in the outer regions.” Zuko fell back on the bed and put his hands over his eyes. Katara laid down next to him.

“I wish there could just be another comet to fall down and hit both their houses. Doesn’t have to be a big one, just big enough to blow apart the room they’re standing in right now. That would get rid of them without me having to actually do anything bad, and then these frustrating meetings might get better.”

Katara hummed and smiled as she leant over to remove his arms and stroke his face. She leaned her forehead against his. “And random acts of the gods aside, you need to start getting ready. We have to be in the hall in 15 minutes to greet our guests.”

Zuko smiled and pulled Katara on top of him. She squealed and squirmed as she tried to escape but ended up locked between his arms and legs in a not uncomfortable position. “I can think of something better we can do for 15 minutes”, he whispered against her neck, nuzzling his face against it and then sealing it with a kiss. “I feel like I haven’t seen you all day”.

Katara struggled her elbows free and placed her forearms on either side of his head and lifted herself up so that she was looking down at him. She rolled her hips into his once, twice, enough that she began to feel his erection beneath his robes, and they both sighed. With the next roll of her hips she laughed and hopped off the bed. Zuko pouted.

She padded over to the the mirror to fix her ruffled up clothing “Nope. Nope you really do need to get ready. Both Aang and Toph are coming! All the way from the Earth Kingdom! It’s been ages since we’ve seen them both at the same time. And we really should be the ones to meet them when they get here.” 

Zuko came over and stood behind her, running his hands up and down her arms, fingers just fluttering against the side of her breasts making her shiver. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head, “you’re a giant tease and I hate you”. He gave her ass a little tap and went into the bathroom to wash himself.

****

Katara woke with a start and sat bolt upright in bed, breathing heavily. Images flashed through her head like a comic. Real ones: Azula staring straight into Katara’s eyes with the manic look of death behind hers; Zuko jumping in front of Katara to protect her. Fake ones: Sokka curled on his side with a gash down the whole side of his body; Suki throwing a dagger that landed straight in the heart of Aang. Bizarre ones: a giant dragon flying over the capital, it’s shadow casting the whole palace in darkness; Iroh slowly morphing into a lizard. 

In the darkness Katara turned to the side and spread her arms out to find her husband lying next to her. Instead she found cold sheets and open space. Frightened from the dream and quietly upset to be left alone she rose to grab her robe and exited her bedroom into the long hallway beyond. It wasn’t unusual for Zuko to be working late into the night but he had gone to sleep with her this evening. Someone must have woken him with an urgent matter. 

As she walked the carpeted hallways lit only by the dimness of every third sconce, her hands fell to protect her slightly rounded belly and the little life within. Unease crept up her neck and made her hunch her shoulders up. Although she knew she shouldn’t do it, she glanced behind her to see if someone was following her - an absurd thought in the well guarded royal rooms of the castle. Despite the emptiness, she hurried her footsteps and tried to ignore the fear within her chest. Imagine! Being afraid of the dark after everything she had already been through. 

She walked through the several halls to her destination with a familiarity that came from living there permanently for the last five years, and not so permanently for the two before that. When she saw the soft glow of a lit room ahead, some of the trepidation left her. When she finally saw Zuko the rest of it vanished. 

“-okay but keep me posted on this. I’m going back to bed.” His voice came through clearly when she stepped into the room. He was half turned towards the door she came in through and he smiled sleepily when he saw her. “Hello love. Sorry to leave you alone,” he looked pointedly at his first steward and the minister for defence “I thought this would only take a few minutes.” They both left with a bow from the other side of the table. Katara and Zuko reached each other and she put her arms around him and he leaned close. “And I know you’ve not been sleeping well,” he said into her ear.

“This stupid baby is making my emotions run wild,” she said into his chest. His arms tightened around her waist and he turned her face to look into her eyes. Tears had begun falling down her cheeks. “I had a bad dream and then I got scared when you weren’t there, which is silly because I’m adult and a warrior and I know we’re safe here and I knew there would be a logical reason for you not being there but…” she trailed off and pouted when his face slowly broke into a grin.

“Oh my sweet,” he hugged her tightly and then wiped away her tears with his sleeves. “I’ve never known you to be scared of anything. Rest assured, its just the baby affecting you like you said.”

“That’s not true though,” she countered. “I was scared when Azula hit you with lightning and when you didn’t wake up straight away.” His smile fell away and he assumed the serious expression he could tell she needed from him.

“Ah, but you’re forgetting that despite your fear you fought hard and strong. You’re the bravest, strongest, best person I know. And l love you.” He kissed her nose eliciting a wet little smile from her.

“Even when I get fat and the baby keeps making me cry at stupid things?”

“Hey, bad dreams aren’t stupid! They might be made up but they give you real emotions. And besides, all the things you went through with Aang and your brother and your tribe when you were younger, thats enough turmoil for a million bad dreams.” 

“How’d you get so wise?”

“I’ve been hanging out with Uncle too much.” He took her hand and led her back towards their rooms. “Come on I’ll make you some soothing chamomile.”  
“Oh you have been. I see it now.”

He laughed and the last of her tears dried up. 

****

It was the morning after Zuko’s coronation party, and while most of the castle slept soundly in their beds after a long night revelling with each other and with members of the public, Katara found herself awaking outside near the fountain in the courtyard; her pretty azure robes from the night before crumpled around her as she lay on her stomach with her head pillowed on her arms. Luckily, she was in close proximity to the tricking water and could easily reach out to rest her hand in the cool liquid and bend it slightly to dull the pounding ache in her head. Blearily she sat up and looked around and tried to remember the events of the night before. 

It was cloudy in her mind and there were large gaps in her memory but one thing she could remember amongst the glimpses of dancing and drinking sweet wine was Aang’s hurt face and the tears she had caused when she told him she didn’t love him. 

She then became aware of the heaviness of her heart and the block of ice weighing down her stomach. The alcohol had loosened her lips and caused the words to stumble out when he had began speaking of their future together, their shared future together. She knew she was right to tell him, but she would have much rather let him down easy, and far away from their friends prying eyes. His grey eyes had widened with shock and his clear words pierced her brain and echoed through her mind now: “you don’t want to be with me? After everything we’ve been through together?” 

She had tried to tell him that she did want to continue travelling with him, that there were so many places she wanted to visit and put her healing to good use. And she did care for him greatly and that her lack of romantic love didn’t change how much fun they had together. But he wasn’t listening. She didn’t remember seeing him after that and her own frustrations had been taken out on more trays of plum wine and letting loose on the dance floor - though not as loose as Suki and her brother had been. She shuddered to think of the positions they were in while flying around the room. 

With a knot of shame in her throat and a queasiness in her stomach she definitely didn’t care for, she went into the palace to face her shame of destroying the avatars heart, a mere one week after he had saved the world. 

Upon entering the dining area of the guest rooms that had been reserved for their group, she found only Iroh sitting at the table, cutting up peaches. “Good morning Master Katara,” Iroh bowed his head slightly with a small smile and continued cutting up the fruit as Katara pulled up a chair and slouched across the table. 

“What’s so good about it?” She grumbled back at him.

“Ah. To be young and plagued with emotions after a night of revelry with ones friends.” Katara grunted low without raising her head, causing the old man to chuckle. He pushed a plate of fruit towards her and poured her a cup of bitter smelling tea. “I don’t envy how you must be feeling right now. But eat your fruit and maybe the sun will shine for you yet young master.”

Katara sipped the tea and winced as it hit her upset stomach. She looked back at him and attempted a smile. She loved the way he sometimes reminded her of her long passed grandfather, with the same sparkle in his eyes and secret smiles, and she harboured a lot of respect for the retired general before her. “Thank you Iroh,” she bowed her head to him and slowly ate her fruit. 

Soon Sokka and Suki materialised, looking much more put together than they should have after their energetic night. “Jeez Katara you look worse than I feel,” Sokka said as he sat across from her. She glowered at him as he pulled a plate toward himself and began piling bits of food onto it. He looked around the table, “any chance of getting some seal blubber around here? Dad and Bato always swear by it after a rough night.” 

Suki laughed and patted Katara’s arm, leaning across her to steal fruit of Sokka’s plate. “I wouldn’t count on it Sok.” To Katara she whispered and nudged her in the side, “How’re you feeling today honey? We saw Aang rush out last night in tears.”

“Argh! Don’t tell me that. I don’t want to remember how much I hurt him.” She hid her face in her hands, childishly hoping that if she couldn’t see the people before her they might disappear altogether. Eventually she raised her head and met the stares of her friends around the table, “I told him that I don’t love him the way he loves me.” She swallowed hard. “I think I really hurt him, I’m worried he won’t even be my friend anymore.” 

“The truth is always the wisest course of action,” Iroh intoned to them while he poured tea for Toph who had just arrived. “And the young avatar’s feelings will heal in time. I do not think you need to worry about losing his friendship.”

“I don’t know Katara, I’m blind and even I could sense the tears on Aang’s face last night. You look terrible by the way.”

“Good morning to you too Toph,” Katara grumbled. 

“Poor Katara. I remember my first time having a few too many cups,” Sokka leaned back and smiled at the memory. “Of course I was nothing compared to you last night and I woke up the next day and went for a nice training session early in the morning.”

Suki laughed loudly. “Please! The way I remember it, you broke down in tears in the evening and begged for my hand and when I refused, you started trying to recruit people to lead a rebellion against the monster you said must have hidden my heart.” Sokka’s face reddened. “And then in the morning we had to throw you in the ocean to get you to wake up.” She turned to Katara, “don’t listen to a word he says, he’s full of it.”

Katara giggled and Sokka blanched. “Well, I don’t remember it that way at all.” He poked his tongue out at Suki, then slowly smiled. “Besides it wasn’t long after that that you did accept my hand and now we’re going to live happily ever after. So there.” He folded his arms across his chest. 

She smiled sweetly back at him, “you got me there.” 

He winked, “I very much did.”

This sweet display of affection really wasn’t helping Katara to feel better. She imagined the way these two acted towards each other was how Aang wanted to be with her. She wanted that someday as well; a partner to rib with and to hug when she was sad, and to tear up the dance floor with. She just couldn’t picture Aang at her side when she thought about that kind of future though.

“Has anyone seen Aang this morning?” She asked the room at large. “I think I need to make sure he’s okay.”

Everyone shook their heads and Katara rose to go find him.

“Good idea!” Said Sokka. He paused then, “uh maybe you should shower first though Katara?” 

She ducked her head in embarrassment and walked quickly through the doors. She heard Sokka begin as she left, “hey Iroh, can you pass me down some of those noodles.” At least her friends were all in good spirits this morning.

——

After a long walk with Aang along the beach that afternoon, Katara felt less guilty but more sad than she had imagined she would. Not only her whole life but the whole world was going to change now. The uncertainty of where she might fit in in the future was a constant source of dread and unease for her. Aang had plans to leave to search for any hidden air nomads in the next few days - alone. Sokka was going to bring Suki home to the South to meet Gran Gran and of course Zuko had a whole nation on his plate now. 

It was Toph who gave her the best advice and idea during this time. “I always felt like my home wasn’t really my home in Gaoling you know? If you’re feeling like that about your tribe right now, maybe you could go out and find where you want to be. And if you need company on your mission to find home - count me in okay. I don’t really have one either.”

Katara tried to hug Toph when she said that but Toph pushed her off, “ew gross. I don’t want your sympathy Sugar Queen. I was just trying to help you.” 

But the prospect of travelling around with just Toph for company didn’t sound like a great long term plan to Katara. She huffed as she lay down on the grass in the courtyard near the fountain again. It was nice to listen to the trickling water and the grass around it was really soft. The turtle ducks were nice company too. She closed her eyes for a while feeling the sense of the water around her and in the air. She might have dozed off for a moment but when she woke, she was startled to find out she wasn’t alone. 

Zuko was propped up against the tree next to her reading a scroll. “Hey, what are you doing here?” She asked him.

“You talk in your sleep.”

She frowned, “what did I say?”

“That’s between me and your unconscious mind,” he smirked at her. 

“Zuko I’m really not in the mood.” She turned her back on him and closed her eyes again. 

She was nearly asleep again when he spoke. “Uncle told me about you and Aang. I thought you might like some company. I uh… I broke up with Mai last night too.”

“Oh.” She didn’t really know what to say to that. She cleared her throat a little, “do you… do you want to talk about it.”

He snorted and threw a piece of leaf he had been worrying between his fingers. It fluttered up and floated down to land near near the fountain. Then immediately it turned into a little fire and burned out. She guessed she had her answer. 

He picked up the scroll again and started reading. Then he put it down again just as fast and scrunched his face up like he had just remembered something bad. 

“What’ve you got there?” she asked him.

As he looked at her, his face coloured a little and he sheepishly told her it was one of the classic fairy tale scrolls he took from the library. “It was my favourite when I was younger. My mum used to read it to me. Out here actually, she commissioned this garden and fountain.” 

Katara immediately bristled at that and began to stand up. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude in your mum’s garden. I’ll just…” 

“Katara! Sit down would you. Stop being so nice,” he rolled his eyes, “besides, you were here first anyway.”

“Oh, right,” she slowly sunk back down and lay on her back in the soft grass. 

After a while she spoke, “How old were you when your mum died?”

He sighed. “I was 9. But I recently found out she didn’t die.” He pulled his legs up to rest his head on his knees. He looked at Katara and she rolled onto her side to look at him. “She was banished.”

“Oh Zuko.” She said sadly. He looked so forlorn and tired sitting there against the tree. And suddenly she was furious at him! 

She jumped to her feet and looked right at him. “How can you just sit there Zuko! How can you sit against that tree reading that silly story knowing that your mother is somewhere out there?” She gestured with her hands beyond the castle walls. She began pacing. “If my mum was still alive and I knew it, I sure as hell wouldn’t be just chilling in the garden.” 

On her next turn past him, he reached out and pulled her down next to him. “Calm down Katara, I’ve got it covered.”

She snatched her wrist back from him and he winced. “What does that mean?”

“Uncle has already found someone to begin looking into it for us.”

“But you’re not actually going to do anything about it yourself? Is that right? Tui and La its like you’re already turning into a spoiled king!”

“Hey, thats not fair Katara! Its because I am the King - I mean Fire Lord, I mean…” he sputtered, “Look, I am the Fire Lord now,” his tone softened, “I can’t just run off and abandon my people, my nation. Maybe two years ago I would have, if I’d known she was alive. But now, no matter how hard I want to. I can’t just leave.” 

His words made sense, and his calming tone was difficult to argue with. He spoke with reason and sound logic. Katara thought he must have grown so much since she first saw him at the south pole. He wasn’t brash anymore or as angry as he used to be. She liked this new logical and patient Zuko. She smiled at him and sat back down, relaxing just a bit, “I guess I see your point.”

“What? Really? You’re done yelling and disagreeing with me? That was fast!”

Indignation rose inside her, “Come on! What’s that supposed to mean?”

Anger broke out on his face and his voice got louder, “Well you’re always yelling at me, aren’t you?”

She was back on her feet now, “Yeah, when you’re being stupid!”

He jumped to his feet too, “Oh I’m being stupid? You just broke up with the avatar for no good reason, and now you don’t have a plan or a future and I’m the one that’s being stupid? Fine!” 

Katara could feel her face burning with rage. “You don’t know anything about me and Aang. And me and my unplanned future are none of your business!”

He sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry, that was a really mean thing to say.”

She wiped furiously at the few tears that leaked down her face and turned away from him. “yeah it was.”

He lifted his arms, hesitated for just a second, and then pulled her against his chest in a hug. She let herself be held by him, put her cheek against his chest and let out the sobs that she had been holding back all day. They stood there for a while.

“Sorry, I’m wrecking your robes.” She eventually mumbled into his chest and pulled out of his embrace. She smiled shyly at him and he rubbed the back of his neck as his face slowly lost some of the pinkness. 

“Um don’t worry about it. I’m sorry I made you cry. I really didn’t mean it. It’s your life, you can do what you want with it.” 

“Thank you. Apology accepted”. They both stood apart for a bit, unsure of where to go from there. It had been a long day for Katara, and she really just wanted it to end. “I think I’m gonna go lie down.” She began walking back toward her room but Zuko called out before she got very far. 

“You don’t have to go back if you don’t want to. I know you like it out here next to the water. I’ll go back inside.”

She turned around and looked at him for a moment. His hair had been cut shorter for the ceremony but it still fell in his eyes so and he kept having to sweep it aside. He looked as unsure as she felt at the moment. “You can stay too if you’d like. Unless you have work you’re meant to be doing or something?”

“No, Uncle said I could start tomorrow. I don’t know about you but I did not wake up in the best state this morning,” he looked down at his feet and rubbed the back of his neck. “After what went down with Mai, I kind of got stuck into the sweet plum wine.”

She grinned, “yeah, that stuff is potent. I actually woke up just there this morning,” indicating the ground a bit to her right. 

He bit his lip to stop from laughing too much, “Yeah I have some faint memories of a very dancey Katara.”

She turned bright red at that and he chuckled some more. “Don’t worry, it was cute though.”

They met each others eye’s and then both quickly looked away, blushing. 

She tried to change the subject, “so whats that fairy tale about?”

Blessedly, he let her. He sat down against the tree again and held the scroll out to her, “here you can read it. I’ve read it thousands of times.”

She took it and looked at the pretty ink drawing of a dragon on one side before turning it over. She laughed.

“Zuko, I can’t read this.”

He looked puzzled.

“It’s written in Fire Tongue you goose.”

Realisation dawned on his face. “Ooooh right.” He took the scroll back and looked up at her. “I could read it to you if you’d like?”

She laid down next to him again. “Go on.”

He read the whole scroll, first in the original language (“It flows better this way, you’ll see.”), and then repeated each line to her in the common tongue. 

He had a pleasant lilting voice when he read, and she giggled when he put on different voices for the dragon and the princess. She tried out some of the words he spoke to see if she could pronounce them properly. They felt clunky as she said them but Zuko assured her that her accent was spot on. “You’re just being nice to me because I cried on you,” she said, eliciting a laugh as smooth as butter out of him. 

***

Zuko was lying in bed impatiently waiting for Katara to join him. It had been at least 20 minutes ago that they had said goodnight to each other in the hall, in front of the servants, with a chaste kiss and a whispered plan to meet in his room in 10 minutes. 

Finally, he heard the squeak of the secret door open and then Katara was flying through the air to land on top of him. He laughed and she pressed her mouth to his before he could finish. Her kisses tasted minty and perfect, just the way he liked them. When she pulled back to breathe he rolled her off him so that he could look at her better. “Were you ever taught to measure time? Because I’ve yet to see any proof of that in anything you do around here.”  
Her mock indignation made him smile and before she could come up with a witty retort he leant forward to begin kissing her again. When the kisses got more intense and his hands were under her shirt and her hands were on top of his pants they both pulled away, breathing hard. “We should stop,” he said.

She pouted and he watched as her chest heaved with each breathe. “I really don’t want to Zuko.” She pressed herself harder against him and he groaned and started kissing her again. She smiled against his lips, very happy to be getting her way. 

“It’s only been three days since we ran out of moon tea but this is torture, Katara,” he said stroking from her waist down to her knee and up again. She squirmed in agreement. He kissed and sucked on her neck, then looked down at her face, enticed by the fire he saw in her eyes. “I’m never having those dignitaries from Omashu in this palace again!” He leant over her and stroked her face, peppering kisses everywhere his hands touched. “Imagine repaying our hospitality by hosting those kinds of parties in that wing of the castle,” a growl of frustration, “right under our noses! And using up all our tea!” That last part was said in a huff.

She laughed and pressed her own kisses to his chin, his neck, his scarred cheek. “They probably thought the unmarried Fire Lord would have no use for it.” She pushed her fingers through his hair, and yanked his head down to hers. “Little did they know.”

He wiggled his eyebrows at her and she laughed harder. He wormed his way down to her hips and moved her legs to rest on his back placing his head in perfect alignment for what he wanted to do next. Her sighing, which turned into quick little breathes, which turned into high pitched mewls, nearly made his own body respond in kind. Luckily for him, he held on long enough for her to repay his kindness.

After a little while they lay back, content in each others arms, with Katara draped across his chest and her head resting just below his chin. “I didn’t even ask you before, how was your day?”

She hummed before answering, “I didn’t really give you the chance to.” She smiled and he kissed her again. 

“It was good. Ty Lee sent me a letter and some nice oils from Kyoshi Island.” 

“Is that what I can smell on you? It’s pretty.” He leaned down to inhale the scent of her hair. She beamed at him. 

“Yeah, I’m really glad we became friends. She’s a great story teller. Her letters always make me happy. Maybe because she leaves out all the boring stuff and just focusses on the nice things.”

“That sounds like her.”

Her smile vanished. “But I also got a letter from Sokka. Gran Gran isn’t well. I’m really worried about her.” She moved around to look into his eyes. 

“I’m so sorry love. When are you next going down there?”

“I was meant to meet my dad in about a month and we were going to sail down together. I feel like we should go sooner.”

“We can write to him tomorrow, okay?” He kissed her again.

“Yeah. That would be good.” She snuggled against him, sighing. 

He hated to see her sad. He stroked his fingers through her hair, soft as silk, “do you want me to read to you?”

She perked up at that. “Yes please. One of the classics?”

He leant over to his bedside table, careful not to jostle her too much, “I have The Importance of Cabbage in the Rain, or Under the Southern Star.”

“Oh Under the Southern Star, obviously.”

He grinned, “obviously.” He cleared his throat, “let’s begin…”

***

Zuko rose with the sun as usual and headed into the courtyard to meet Iroh and go over their daily meditation. It was warm with a slight breeze in the courtyard and already heat was beginning to radiate off the castle walls, it was going to be a hot afternoon. 

Today was his first real day as Fire Lord and he was…nervous. He took up his first stance, centred his mind and tried to focus on only his breathing, feeling his chi move through his chakras and smoothing out the fire within him. He became less and less aware of Uncle beside him following through with the same motions as him. When they were finished and calmness radiated from within, they turned to face each other and bowed. 

Iroh came forward and placed his arms around his nephew and gave him a gentle squeeze, “you’re going to be a wonderful Fire Lord Nephew. You have strong instincts and a large heart. You’re mother would be very proud of the man you have become.” 

Zuko squeezed the old man back, a bit longer than he usually would have and sucked in a deep breath. “I will do my best Uncle.”

“Good. Because that is all I ask of you.”

Iroh lead Zuko through the covered hallways to the tea room, where some messengers were already waiting to see him. His duties had now started, he hoped he would be up to the challenge. 

——

Around lunch time that day, Zuko was walking back to his office, when he spotted Katara turning the corner a bit ahead of him, going in a different direction. 

“Katara! Katara, hey!” He jogged slightly to catch up with her. She turned around and grinned at him with a full face smile but kept walking. 

“Hey, Zuko! Sorry I’m kind of in a rush, I was meant to be teaching some kids a few basic healing skills but time sort of got away from me.”

“That’s okay I won’t keep you. Where are you headed? I’ll walk with you.”

“The teacher set it up for us in the clearing near the infirmary.” She glanced around the next hallway, looking a bit unsure. 

“Come on, its this way.” He grabbed her hand and lead her in the right direction. “I didn’t know you were interested in teaching.”

She looked down at their joined hands, a bit perplexed, but didn’t let go. “Yeah I’m just trying to keep busy until… until I make up my mind about what to do now.”

He thought back on their conversation from the day before. He still felt a little guilty for making her cry, but he was glad she had something to occupy her time for now. “So is it just you teaching the kids?”

“Yeah. Toph was going to come too but she decided to head down to the beach with Aang instead. Just as well, I’m not sure how much help she would have been.”

“Oh wow, they’re brave. Everyone is going to want to have the chance to thank the Avatar personally. I’ll be surprised if they get any swimming done at all.”

She shrugged. “It’s okay, I think they both like meeting new people anyway.”  
He nodded in agreement as they rounded the last corner to the clearing. About 10 kids of varying ages from the palace were running around chasing each other on the grass. When they noticed to two of them, they all kind of simmered down a bit to watch them approach. One of the older ones had the presence of mind to kneel when Zuko was close enough, and they all followed suit.

Zuko nodded back to them all and gave a tentative smile and a wave. He definitely was not great with kids and was eager to not make a fool of himself right now. She gave her own bow to Zuko, which made him snort, then she gave him another glimmering smile and turned towards the kids before her, easily commanding their attention. 

He began to leave, suddenly remembering the two ministers he was close to standing-up in his office and walked a bit more purposefully. It wouldn’t do to make them wait too much on his first day. He wanted to show that he was punctual and organised. 

“Lord Zuko!” Katara called after him. “Will you be joining us for dinner?” 

He turned around, pleasantly surprised to be invited by her. “I’ll be there.” They waved to each other and then he was off. 

***

Zuko rolled over in his sleep and pulled Katara closer to his chest, nuzzling into her neck as he did so. Her cold neck. His arms moved over hers and down to her hands. Her cold hands. Blearily he opened his eyes and kept moving his arms around her body, finishing up by gently placing his hands on her little, barely there, baby bump. She sighed in her sleep.

He sat up a bit onto one elbow, puzzled. Why was she so cold?

The blanket was pulled up to her chin and she slept soundly, breathing heavy breaths. He put his hand to her forehead and felt the chill there, but it didn’t seem to bother her at all, in fact she seemed to like his warm hands on her body in her sleep.

She rolled over and pressed the length of her body against his mumbling as she did so. For a moment, he couldn’t tell if he had woken her up or not, considering she often talked in her sleep. But after a moment when her breathing continued the deep and slow rhythm he was accustomed to he stopped worrying. He listened intently in case she said something again, not wanting to miss out on gaining ammo to tease her about later in the day. 

He didn’t have to wait too long, “good job baby, you’re making beautiful snow.” Zuko nearly laughed out loud. She was dreaming about their baby being a water bender! And considering how cold her skin was feeling, he thought that might just be a premonition for the future. He smiled happily at that. Of course he would have loved to have a fire bending child as his first born but honestly he was just thrilled that he could have two amazing water benders in his life. 

He hugged his wife closer, hoping to warm her up even if the coldness wasn’t bothering her outwardly. He didn’t want her to be any sort of uncomfortable ever. After a while though, he got up and grabbed another blanket for their bed, just to be sure. And, he admitted to himself quietly, she was kind of making him cold. He kissed her head and tried to fall back asleep, hoping to have his own dream of their future children. 

When Katara awoke in the morning she was a tangled and sweaty mess against Zuko, with some pillows and blankets pushed down to the foot of their bed. She looked sleepily over at him just as he was about to jump up and begin his morning meditation. “Why do we have so many blankets on?” She grumbled at him. “I’m all sweaty and gross.” 

He smiled fondly over at her. “I just got a bit cold last night, that’s all.” 

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “It’s the middle of autumn in the fire nation, cold doesn’t exist here.”

He hummed and just shrugged his shoulders. “Did you sleep okay despite the blankets?” 

“Yeah.” She got a dopey grin on her face and fell back against the bed into a more comfy position. “I think I had a really nice dream, but I can’t really remember it. I just feel all warm and fuzzy inside, you know?”

He turned a big smile back to her, hoping not too give away how gleeful he felt. “Yeah, I know what you mean.” He leaned over to kiss her before he left to begin the day. She pulled him back down for another before he could get away. 

“You know I really hope our kid can bend fire. I think that would just make me so so happy. Not that I’m not already the happiest person in the world, but I think it would be a nice addition to our family. I love you so much, and I hope they get some of your skills. Besides I think the whole nation would take better to a first born fire bender, don’t you?”

“I just hope its a healthy and happy little thing. And I think the nation will adore all our children because they all very much adore you.”

She sighed happily, “you’re right.” She spoke to her belly then, “you’re going to be so loved little one.” 

He came over and kissed her belly too, “so loved,” he said. 

***

“You’re getting slow Lord Zuko!” She sing-songed as she twirled away from his fire whip. Sweat was forming on his brow and the energy inside him was swirling at a nearly uncomfortable rate. Loathe as he was admit it, he could tell he was slightly out of shape. He quickly dodged the wall of ice she was about to shoot at him only to bump into another ice wall on his other side - he had fallen for he feint and her mirth bubbled out of her like a fountain. He took a few steadying breaths and tried to regain composure; but it was hard when this was the third time in a row she had beaten him with that move. He really needed to spend less time at a desk and more in the training yard. 

He sat down hard and plopped back to lie down in the grass. She came over and laid down next to him, making a flurry of perfect little snowflakes appear over their heads to cool them down. He was pleased when he looked over and saw she was just as red as he was, and that sweat glistened on her forehead too.

“You were so close this time.” She breathed out, laughing a little. 

“I know. I need to spend more time out here practising.”

She reached out for his hand and quietly held it for a time. They had been doing that a lot recently. Holding hands, or finding ways to touch each other in every day conversation. It has been nearly three months since their friends had all left for their own paths, but she had stayed. Their already easy friendship had turned into a strong connection and he was very glad for her company and support through all the decision making and dealing with the council members and ministers. He squeezed her fingers gently inside his own. She squeezed back.

“I’m leaving tomorrow.” 

He turned to look at her. “Where will you go? Are you going to come back?” He tried not to let the panic come out with his words.

She smiled and turned fully to face him, making him think that maybe she could sense his feelings anyway.

“Of course I’m going to come back. You couldn’t keep me away from the kids here for long. Or the healers in the hospitals, I’ve learned so much, and there is still so much I need to learn!”

He grinned at her, “anything else you’re going to miss here?”

She blushed slightly and pushed on, ignoring him. “I’m going to find Toph, and she and I are going to visit some villages to offer healing. I think that’s what I want to do. I can’t just let my abilities go to waste. I have them, and I need to share what I can do.”

He leaned over to brush the hair off her face that had come loose during their spar. “You’re amazing,” he whispered. 

She shifted closer to him, not letting go of his hand between them and raising her other one to cover his on her face. 

He nearly forgot to breathe. Was this really happening? They were leaning close to each other, the distance between their lips closing, closing, until they met. It was short and it was soft, but he thought it was the best kiss he would ever get in his life. He let out a shaky breath and her eyelids fluttered open. They smiled at each other but neither wanted to pull back. 

“I’ll miss you,” he said at last.

Sadness creeped into her eyes and he thought maybe he put it there. He didn’t want to force his feelings on her like he thought Aang might have done before the comet. He liked to think he understood Katara pretty well, and he had his past relationship with Mai to go off, he just hoped he wasn’t making her uncomfortable.

He pulled away, “I mean…” he sat up and rubbed the back of his neck. “I mean, of course you should go. I didn’t mean to imply you should stay… for me… or anything like that.”  
She sat up too, watched him flounder around for a little longer, before taking pity on the awkward Fire Lord and pressing her lips to his again. This kiss was a little longer, and she reached out to hold his face while she did it. He sighed against her mouth and moved his around a bit to get better purchase. When they pulled apart their foreheads rested together and she giggled low in her throat. 

“I’ll miss you too dummy.” They looked into each others eyes. “And besides I’m really glad you got that out of the way today, because I really didn’t want to have to jump you just before getting on the boat. I didn’t want your guards to think I was about to attack you.”

“Anyone who tries to stop you from doing that to me again will be fired immediately and sent off without pay and without a reference.” He said quickly. 

“Good, because I think I’ll be doing it a lot when I come back.” She pulled him to his feet. “Also good thing you’re the Fire Lord because I don’t think your bending alone could defeat your guards at the moment,” she said as she nudged his shoulder. 

“Right.” He said, as he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. “Don’t ever forget Katara, that I am bigger than you and will never hesitate to use that against you.” She laughed loudly at that as he jostled them back towards the palace.

“Hey! Put me down, someones going to see! This isn’t proper Zuko.”

“Nope, I don’t care. You’re coming with me for the rest of the day if you’re leaving tomorrow.” 

She smiled into his back, happy to have such a strong effect on him. She hoped his feelings stayed as strong as hers had become. 

He walked them towards the tea room, still with her slung across one shoulder and she prayed they wouldn’t come across anyone important. He continued chatting to her as he walked and she laughed and answered as best she could with blood pooling inside her head, clouding her mind just a little. He opened to the door to the tea room and she thanked the moon and stars that no one seemed to be out and about today. He paused when he made it through the door and stopped talking. He also didn’t put her down. She bristled but kept quiet.

“Good afternoon Uncle; General Xiao; General Chang. Bai Hu, Lady Kwan, welcome.” He bent slightly at the waist to each of them and then rearranged Katara on his shoulder. He turned slightly, “Do you know Master Katara, of the Southern Water Tribe?”

Bai Hu and Lady Kwan both smiled with sparkles in their eyes and Iroh smiled broadly and looked away, Zuko suspected to keep from laughing. 

“Its a pleasure to meet you Master Katara,” Lady Kwan said. Katara offered a tiny wave and a rose coloured blush.

“Lord Zuko -” One of the generals nearly shouted but Zuko got there first.

“Anyway, Master Katara and I must be off. Terribly sorry to interrupt your tea. But might I recommend the jasmine blend. Uncle makes it himself.” Iroh chuckled and bowed his head in acknowledgement. 

Zuko left the room walking out backwards and pulled the door with him as he did so. He hurried off still holding Katara and when he came across the next empty room he saw, he darted inside and shut the door behind them. 

He nearly dropped her from laughing too hard but he managed to put her safely on the ground where they both fell against each other laughing so hard tears came out of their eyes. 

“Oh my God! Zuko! You’re going to be in so much trouble at the next council meeting! I can’t believe you didn’t put me down.” She laughed harder when she pictured the outrage on the two generals faces.   
“I think it was worth it to see the generals flustered in front of the White Tiger of the West and the Lady of Mercy.” He wiped the tears from his face. 

She sat bolt upright. “Is that who they were?” She gasped and then laughed harder. 

“Yeah, they’re uncles old friends.” 

She leaned against him and smiled. “It is never ever boring here Zuko, you have to know that.”

He grinned back at her and leant forward to kiss her cheek. “Good enticement for you to come back soon then.”

“Pssh. Like I needed anymore.” 

He grinned cheekily at her. 

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thanks for reading! :)
> 
> I took a little bit of inspiration from Kylie Chan's Dark Heaven's trilogies. If you haven't read them you should check them out! The first one is called White Tiger.


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kept going!! Might keep going after this, but for now, this is it!

Dear Zuko,

I’m on the ship to Kyoshi Island now where Ty Lee has has promised to show me around thoroughly as soon as I arrive. Should I be nervous? It was wonderful to go home and see Dad, Gran Gran and Sokka. As much as I love them and adore the south though, I can’t see myself ending up there in the future. I’m always going to need the bustling and people of a big city. Dad said he would come visit me as soon as I’m back in Caldera City. Sokka said to tell you to keep practising with the broadswords and he’ll be sure to beat you when he gets back there. Suki sends her love and the reminder to have someone check your food for poisons. Gran Gran would love to meet you. Do you have any state visits to the south planned? 

Aang also made an appearance at my tribe when I was there. He’d heard I was there from some travelling northerners and came down on Appa to see us all. It was a weight off my shoulders when he said he forgave me and he harbours no hard feelings. He also apologised for hurting my feelings when he overreacted (his words, not mine!!). I was really scared that he was going to be secretly angry at me forever, so his forgiveness has made my heart soar. We went penguin sledding with lots of the kids. Sokka and Aang loved it the most though. 

I helped deliver four babies in the big igloo when I was there. One of them was a breach and we were all really scared, but luckily he came out perfectly. He has his fathers eyes and I think I’m a little bit in love with him. I feel a lot more confident delivering breach babies now, apparently its a complication a lot of the local healers in the Earth Kingdom don’t know how to deal with. Gran Gran gave me some good tips. 

The never ending frostbite scars were getting a bit dull to fix so I’m glad I moved on when I did. Toph is going to meet me on Kyoshi, I’ll tell her you say hi. 

I hope you’re ministers aren’t giving you too much trouble. If they are, you have my permission to give them a good bump on the head, that ought to sort them out. 

Don’t miss me too much,  
Love, Katara

***

Zuko knocked on the door and leaned his head in while Katara was sitting on the floor reading medical scrolls, the large stacks of the library shelves casting long shadows over her in the evening light. 

She looked up in surprise and squinted her eyes at him, surprised that it was so difficult for her to see clearly, it had gotten dark fast. 

He laughed, “you’re going to need magnifying stones for everything if you continue to sit here in the dark,” he warned her. 

“Yeah, you might be right.” She started packing the many scrolls into the basket she would take with her. “Come and help a pregnant woman up.” She lifted her arms out to him. 

“Gladly.” He swooped down and scooped her into his arms, pretending to drop her a little. 

She laughed but slapped his arm anyway. “Hey I might be the size of a whale but I know you haven’t been practising enough and I can definitely still take you in my state.” 

He brushed aside her accusations with a shake of his head. “Sitting on the ground like that can’t have been comfortable.” He told her. “The healers keep saying you need to rest, my love. Contrary to the belief of our people, you are not immortal and we need to keep you healthy okay?”

“I would definitely argue with you but I’m entirely too comfortable in your arms right now.” He put her down gently onto the couch in their sitting room and sat next to her, pulling her feet into his lap. 

He rubbed her feet and she sighed in bliss. Then she jumped a little. “Oh Zuko, quickly that baby’s kicking!”

He moved his hand where she indicated and smiled over at her. “I’m never gonna get tired of that.” 

She wiggled with excitement, “me neither! We made a baby, that’s pretty cool!”

“We’ve already made one baby before,” he laughed. “I know its pretty cool.” 

“Speak of the devil,” Hakoda said, as he walked into their sitting room with a chubby little baby boy on his hip. He placed the child between the two of them on the couch and then spread his arms wide like a magician finishing a trick, “and he shall appear.”

“Zuko, did my father just compare our child to the devil?” Katara asked as Zuko picked his son up and held him above his head. The child squirmed and laughed, reaching out to his father. 

“I think he did. But clearly he didn’t mean our little angel, did he?” Zuko tickled him on the tummy and gleamed when the boy babbled and reached out for his hair. 

“You are not the ones who have been playing with him while Mummy and Daddy worked all afternoon, are you?” Hakoda chirped from in front of the fire place, his favourite area to end up. He reached for the tea kettle on the small table and set it on the fire to warm up. 

Katara laughed and acquiesced that Hakoda did have a point. 

“Tea, Katara?” Hakoda offered.

“No, thank you.”

“Katara’s gone off tea. She said this child already burns her insides with their strong fire blood and she doesn’t need to help it along.” Zuko explained patiently while looking at Katara. She poked her tongue out at him. He turned back to Hakoda and they both shared a smile. “How come you didn’t offer me tea?”

“You have two legs. They’re not there to be admired.” 

“Although they should be,” Katara intoned, without looking up from hugging her son to her chest. He was beginning to fall asleep. “Be nice Dad.”

Zuko laughed. “No it’s okay he has a point. I do have two legs and need to put them to better work.”

“Maybe you and I should do some sparring Zuko?” 

“You’re on! I could use the hand to hand training for sure.”

As Hakoda and Zuko discussed trying to find a good time in Zuko’s busy schedule to to have a match, Iroh entered and settled himself on the other couch. Hakoda immediately poured the older man some tea. 

The time for the match was set for the following afternoon, as soon as Zuko was finished with a meeting for the creation of a new highway into the city. “It shouldn’t take too long anyway, I have no idea about anything to do with roads. I’ll just have to agree with the materials minister and sign the and orders at the end.” He sighed. Being the Fire Lord was not that interesting some times. He was excited to have a formidable challenger in Hakoda in the palace for the next few months. He planned to stay until after Katara had the baby, so that he could and help out a bit. Regretfully he had missed the birth of the little prince and insisted he didn’t want to miss out again.

“I would be pleased to watch.” Iroh interjected when the discussion came to a close. “Maybe I can play the loser,” he chuckled. He reached for more tea and offered some to Katara. 

“No thank you Iroh. My belly is hot enough with this one inside me,” she said, resting her hand on her belly.

“Why does no one offer me tea anymore?” Zuko lamented quietly to his wife. 

“You have two legs Nephew…“ Iroh began.

“Yeah, yeah I know. They’re not there to be admired.” 

Katara and Hakoda both let their laughter run free, sounding very similar to each in tone and inclination. Zuko and Iroh smiled at each other from across the room, happy to be amongst the reunion of father and daughter. 

***

Zuko held Katara’s letter in his hand, after reading it no less than 50 times since he received it. There was a beautiful view from one of the towers of the palace where you could see for miles out to the ocean. Zuko stood there now, squinting his eyes and imaging that he could see the land on other side of the sea. Yes, he thought, he was definitely looking at some kind of land. Maybe not quite the Earth kingdom, probably just an island, but definitely closer to where Katara is than he currently was. 

Presently, Iroh wondered around the corner. “I thought you might be up here. It’s a lovely evening. Look the stars are coming out.” Sure enough a few twinkly lights were now appearing over the horizon, the sun having just set. 

Zuko smiled at Iroh. Two years ago he couldn’t have even imagined his future self admiring the stars with Iroh in Fire Nation Capital, and now he was living it. 

“There is something I must discuss with you Nephew.”

Zuko looked questioningly at his uncle. “If this is about that abhorrent general and his idea for improving the pure blood of our citizens,” Zuko made little quotation marks, “I’m not sorry I kicked him out of the meeting.”

Iroh snorted. “No nephew, its not regarding that. I fully support you on that decision”

“Then what?”

Iroh paused. “Azula has asked to see you.”

“Oh.” His brow furrowed. “Is she…”

“She has become somewhat lucid in the last few days.”

Zuko hummed. “I’ll see if I can make some time this week.”

“She is still your sister Zuko.”

“She tried to kill me.” Zuko snapped. His voice softened, “she nearly killed Katara.”

“I know,” Iroh said softly. He gazed at the ocean for so long that Zuko thought he might have finished the conversation. “But… she loved you once. You have no obligation to forgive her right now. But I think you’ll agree that she deserves a chance. You know more than anyone how much a second chance can mean.”

Zuko turned to look back at the ocean. He took a few deep breathes, trying to control the embers of anger within him. As usual, he could see that Iroh had a point. 

Iroh came and rested his hand on his nephews back gently, then turned and left him alone to think.

***

“Zuuuuuuuuuko.” Katara sang as she poked her head into his office. “I’m boreeeeeeed.” He laughed which encouraged her to go on. “Stop working so hard and come train with me.”

He tried to hide his smile but put on his serious face effortlessly. “You know I have a nation to run right?”

She walked around to his side of the desk to look at the documents piled in little groups all over his desk, with neat little labels on top of each. “Pfft ledgers. You don’t need to trouble yourself with that. That’s what your accountants are for, silly.” 

He nodded, “yeah, but it really helps if I know what’s going on in the meetings. I like knowing where all the money is coming from.” He swung around to look at her. “Hey, don’t you have a class to teach this afternoon? Are you playing hooky”

She sucked her cheeks together, making Zuko think that whatever came out of her mouth next wasn’t going to be the truth. “Not exactly. Most of the children are down at the beach competing in the big sand castle building competition. I said they could have the afternoon off because they’ve been working so hard.”

“Mmm-hmm. You set up the competition for them, didn’t you?”

“I just feel like they deserve a break from working too much. And so do you.” She put her hands on his shoulders and rubbed little circles into his muscles. “Just come hang out with me, one hour tops.” She leaned forward to kiss his head. “Besides, I’m pretty sure that kids have come the furthest reaches of the community to build sand castles. I think this might turn into an annual summer tradition.” She smiled at the thought and he couldn’t help but smile back at her. 

“Shouldn’t you be judging it then?”

“Nah, I wanted to come hang out with you.”

“Lucky me. Okay. I will make you a deal. I will come train with you for half an hour.” He paused. “If you meditate with me for the other half hour.”

Her shoulders slumped and she sank all the way down onto his lap. “But I hate meditating.”

“I know you do. But I love it. Do it for me?”

She put her arms around his neck. “Fine. I will do this for you, but only because I love you.”

He rested his forehead against hers. “I love you too.” She leant up to kiss him but he evaded her with a grin. “Besides, maybe if I get you to meditate enough, you might enjoy it and will have a hobby and then you’ll stop interrupting my work.”

“I told you; you work too much.”

He kissed her on the cheek, “good thing you’re around to look after me then.”

She leaned up to give his nose a little peck. “You bet I am.”

***

Dear Zuko

The Earth Kingdom has many more villages than I remember it having. The migration out of Ba Sing Se that was described in the report that arrived just before I left is making sense in my mind on a grand scale now. It’s different to how I imagined it in my head. 

The people we’ve met have been amazing though. Did you know that there is a whole generation of kids being born to one parent from the Fire Nation and one from the Earth Kingdom? I’ve met a whole heap of them and I think it’s going to be a bright and exciting future for them.

I’ve also been keeping my ear to ground to find out just how much the people here adore, respect and revere you, just as you asked me to. Just kidding, I know you’re too humble and sweet to ask me to spy for you - it was your uncle who did. And please tell him that the general consensus is that the “young fire lord has been admirable in his efforts to restore peace and fertility to the land.” Basically, you’re brilliant and they all know it. And so do I. If I don’t say it enough, I’m very proud of you.

Next week Toph and I are heading to a town that was recently built on the banks of a polluted river. They didn’t know at the time but I visited one about 20 miles downriver from them a month ago and it sounds like they’re having similar problems. Luckily, I know how to fix it, for a little while at least. But I’m still puzzling over the source of the pollution. Toph will be invaluable in reading the minerals of the surrounding rocks.

Hopefully we’ll be heading to the outskirts of the Fire Nation soon and I’ll be able to finally see your beautiful face. I already see it every time I close my eyes but seeing it in the flesh will certainly be one thousand times better. 

All my love  
Katara

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.


	3. Part 3

Katara was resting beside the fountain in the courtyard (her favourite courtyard), when Zuko came bounding out from one of the hallways, the biggest grin she had even seen plastered on his face. She sat up and smiled as he raced towards her.

“You’re back! No one told me! Why didn’t you come find me! You’re here!” He rushed to her and lifted her easily from the ground into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist and they shared a brief second of eye contact before crashing their lips together. 

Katara laughed into the kiss so Zuko started kissing her cheek instead. She loosened her arms from his neck, expecting him to put her down but he only cuddled her more fiercely. “Why didn’t you come find me?” He repeated.

“I didn’t want to disturb you; I stopped by your office as soon as I came in but you’re secretary said you were busy.” 

“Well she is obviously fired.”

“Zuko, no!” He frowned, and she moved her hand to smooth it out. “What were you doing?”

A pause. “I was discussing war tactics.”

“Are we going to war?” Katara was alarmed and her face turned panicky. “See, that is serious. I’m glad I didn’t interrupt. Who are we fighting?”

“No we’re not. There is no war. It was a preemptive meeting for hypothetical situations. Definitely interruptible.” He leant forward to kiss her again but she evaded him.

“That’s not a word. I left for 10 months and you forgot proper vocabulary.” She smirked at him.

“Mmm ten months is a long time. You might have to teach me how to hold sane conversations again. It seems like no else here can do it.” 

“Poor Lord Zuko. All your underlings don’t understand you.” He pouted at her and she laughed. This time she leaned forward to kiss him. He gladly let her. 

After a while he put her down and took her hands between his. He leaned against her slightly. “I missed you, you know? Thank you for the letters.”

“I also missed you. Sorry I couldn’t write more. Good paper is still kind of rare in the Earth Kingdom. I liked your letters too.”

He scrunched his face up in a dopey grin. “What are you doing now? Do you have plans for the rest of the day?” 

“Nope, no plans.” Her smile pierced right into his heart. “I kind of wanted to show you something, if you’re up for it? Do you have much on for the rest of the afternoon?”

“I will gladly take the afternoon off for you.” 

“Can we go into town?”

He looked puzzled. “We can… I’d have to get a guard together though. We wouldn’t have much privacy. Why?”

She smile turned coy. “I was kind of hoping we could sneak out. You see there’s this family I met on the outskirts of Caldera… near the volcano…”

He waited patiently for her to go on. Her excitement was physical. “They’re lovely people, I stayed with them last week. And they live next to this spring.”

He caught on to what she was saying straight away. He’d heard of this spring before, in stories. He’d never visited it. As far as he was aware the properties of the spring were only fantasy.

“Zuko, the water there is amazing. It comes straight from the bowels of the volcano and it’s got these extra minerals and elements I can feel when I bend!” Her eyes sparkled. “When I used it to heal I could feel the power. I’ve never felt anything like that before, except at the North Pole.” He smiled widely back at her. She was a water-bending healer. Of course she found her way to the supposedly magical spring of the Fire Nation. He was momentarily angry at himself that he never thought to tell her about it sooner. His annoyance at himself vanished when her story continued. Awe clouded his face. 

“I’d heard stories of some kind of magic water as soon as I landed back on the islands. I had no idea it would be so close to Caldera. Zuko, I think maybe it can be used and harnessed by water healers. We could cure cancer or… or… fight auto-immune diseases, or fix scars!” Her hand came up to stroke his scar and he leaned into it, breathing quickly. “There are so many possibilities! Will you come see it with me? Right now?” 

He knew for certain right then; he would do anything she ever asked of him. “Yes,” he breathed. “Let’s go.” 

She jumped up and down and pulled him down for another kiss. “Are you sure? I know you probably have so much to do. You run the nation for Tui’s sake. I don’t want to get in the way of you and your work. Ever.” She looked into his eyes deeply. 

He smiled back at her. “It’s okay. This is more important. You’re more important Katara.” 

She blushed and he stroked her cheeks with his thumbs. 

“You’re cute when you blush.” 

She leaned forward to press her lips gently to his, then grinned and tugged on his arm. “Okay. Let’s go.”

“Hang on, I just have to leave a note for uncle. He won’t be happy but I don’t want him to worry.”

“And you’re sure you’re okay with sneaking out? Even without a guard?”

“Um yes? I have you.”

“Oh right.” She smiled shyly and he laughed. 

“Come on Lady La.” He smirked at her and she turned in surprise. 

She knew some people in the Earth Kingdom had started calling her that when she started pulling off some slightly miraculous healing. A nickname after the original spirit of the ocean due to the powers she was beginning to use in unprecedented ways. She just hadn’t realised the name had gotten back here to Zuko. Suddenly, the idea of the spring water was daunting to Katara. She could picture her future if she chose this path of harnessing the effects of the pool, and it came with the weight of millions of peoples expectations. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to handle that.

Zuko saw the change in her demeanour immediately. Her pause, and the downcast point of her lips. He smiled at her encouragingly and held his hand out for her to take.

After a moment of hesitation she grabbed it. Maybe she didn’t quite believe in herself yet. But it seemed to her that Zuko really did, and that was the strength she needed to follow this path. 

***

It was coming up to the two year anniversary of the end of the war. It seemed only right that the little group of saviours should meet to celebrate; and so Sokka, Suki, Toph and Aang found themselves once again united at the Fire Palace with Zuko and Katara. 

When their ship sailed into port, Katara was there to meet it, eager to see her friends and brother again. Before the ship was docked properly Sokka jumped over the side and grabbed Katara into a fierce hug, smiling wide and squeezing her half to death. 

“Sokka! Can you grab that rope?” Suki called from the deck. “Hi Katara!” She yelled out gleefully as she fastened another rope to the cleat of the dock. 

Toph stumbled down the gangplank and fell into Katara’s awaiting arms. “I do love visiting you Katara but maybe next time you could come see me? The less time I spend on a boat the happier I’ll be.”

“Sure thing Toph. I’d like to revisit all the towns we saw again anyway. We’ll set something up okay?” She slung her arm around Toph’s shoulders, surprised to notice the young girl was almost the same size as she was now.

“Where’s Lord Sparky?” 

“He has a few things to do today but he said he’d join us for dinner.” 

“Hi Katara.” 

She turned around at the soft voice and saw an older and slightly more wearied Aang than she had expected.

“Aang!” She let go of Toph and launched herself into Aang’s arms. “It’s so good to see you!”

He grinned into her shoulder and pulled her more firmly against him. “It’s good to see you too.” He leaned back to study her face. “How are you? Are you good here?”

Her smile dimmed a little, trying to figure out exactly what Aang was asking. Their correspondence hadn’t been as frequent as he probably would have liked and she thought he might be worrying about her spending so much time in Caldera. She and Zuko hadn’t told their friends about their feelings towards one another yet but Katara thought that Toph probably already knew since they spent all those months together. It seemed that Aang might have guessed as well. 

She turned the brightness of her smile up and tried to reassure him with her expression, “I’m perfect here.” She looked around at her friends gathered around her. “I can’t believe you’re all here together. I can’t wait to show you all some things I’ve been working on. And I want to hear about what you’ve all been up to.”

Suki and Sokka shared a smile and he put his arm around her waist, she leaned into him. “Well speaking of that. We kind of wanted to tell you all at the same time but Zuko isn’t going to be free all day and I don’t think I can wait any longer…” He turned to Suki and she nodded gleefully and beamed at him. “We got married!”

“Eloped.” Suki clarified. 

“What?” Katara yelped. “Oh my spirits! I can’t believe it.” She pulled Suki into her arms. “Now we really are sisters!” They embraced and laughed together and then Katara turned to Sokka, “you big meatball, I wanted to be there.” 

“I know. I’m sorry, we really couldn’t wait to get married to each other.”

She nudged his arm and then hugged him too. “What did Dad and Gran Gran say?”

“They were pleased I think,” he hummed. “After the initial shock they were anyway. Suki’s agreed to come live in the South and that made them happier knowing we’d be down there to help them expend the tribe.”

“There’s already so many extra buildings up now Katara. And loads of people from the north have emigrated to help as well. I’m so excited for you to see it.” She smiled softly at Sokka. “This one’s designed so much for the village and brought in all kinds of new trade and materials. He’s going to be a wonderful chief.” 

Katara felt a pang of jealousy for these two. She quickly centred herself; it had been her decision not to return there and help to expand the town. She shouldn’t be jealous of how easy their life and love appeared to her when she didn’t know everything about their struggles.

“That’s amazing,” she said. “I’m so happy for you both.” She thought of Zuko and while the last few months together had been amazing, she didn’t think they would ever get the opportunity to elope or maybe even share their love with his people. Her future with him was still so undecided and unsure, and it saddened her to feel this way. They hadn’t yet talked about their future together, and every day they put it off the more the unease inside of her grew.

“You guys!” Aang was bouncing on the balls of his feet, “I want to hug too!” He held his arms out and everyone laughed. “This is a very celebratory trip.” He reached for Sokka and the two squeezed each other and patted each other on the back.

Toph turned to Katara, “Anything else we should know about Sweetcheeks? Something else to celebrate perhaps?”

Katara raised an eyebrow at Toph.

“You’re giving me a look aren’t you? Need I remind you that I’m blind?”

Katara laughed, “you can read me better than anyone and you know it.”

Toph laughed, “really? Better than anyone? Better than a certain Fire Lord?”

“Okay!” Katara said loudly while she stepped on Toph’s foot, not softly. Toph let out a little squawk. “Let’s get some lunch, you must all be starving.” She pushed Toph along in front of her and lead the way up to the palace. “Who’s up for boarbear soup?”

“Oh me definitely.” Sokka called as he bounced up ahead of Katara. 

***

“Katara, how many times have I asked you to marry me?”

“Hmm I’m not sure sorry.” She looked up from the scroll she was reading. She had recently gotten back in to reading for fun and luckily the library at the Fire Nation Capital was well stacked with volumes of all genres. “Why?”

Zuko had put his own scroll down on the low table of the sitting room. He sighed and looked at her in exasperation. “Because its been over a year since I started asking you and you still refuse me! I’m starting to think you don’t actually love me.”

He said the last bit so forlornly that Katara took pity on him. She rested her own tome on the table and got up to sit beside him, taking his hands in hers. She stroked small circles with her thumbs. “Of course I love you Zuko. I’ve always loved you. But… the people here won’t accept me. And I’m not sure I’m cut out to be Fire Lady. There’s still so much that needs to be done for healthcare here and in the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes.”

“You’re delusional.” She laughed but he looked at her seriously and she quelled her mirth. “Everyone here loves you.” She tried to interrupt but he stopped her with a hand to her mouth. “Okay, most of the people love you. I will concede that there is still some opposition we face but honestly it’s such a small amount of people, they’re not even worth mentioning.” He stroked her cheeks. “Aren’t you as impatient as I am to start our family?”

“It’s not that Zuko. Of course I want to have a family with you. But it wouldn’t be just our family or just our kids. They would be royalty and they would belong partly to the nation.” 

He let go of her hands and rose to his feet, pacing the room. “I’m ready for that Katara. Maybe its because I always knew I would be Fire Lord someday so I’ve had longer to prepare. But I love you so much. There is no one else for me. How do you expect me to proceed if you keep saying no? Do you want me to marry someone else?”

“What? No! Of course I don’t! I never said I wouldn’t marry you -“

He laughed without humour. “No. You just refused all 24 times for fun was it? To keep me begging? For Agni’s sake I’m the ruler of this country and everyone knows that you could make or break me.”

“Look…. Zuko.” She came and stood before him. “We’re still young. I just don’t see any reason to rush things. I leave the country every four months. What kind of Fire Lady would that be, who can’t even stay in the country long enough to help rule it?”

“We could move the hospital administration to the palace!”

She snorted. “No we couldn’t. Politics and health don’t go together.”

He rose his eyebrows at her. “I’m a politician Katara.” 

She threw her head back. “That’s not what I meant, that wasn’t about us. Don’t twist my words around.”

“Fine! So just to recap you won’t marry me because we’re too young and because you think you can’t work from the capital?”

She opened her mouth to speak.

“And not because you think the people won’t accept you.”

Her mouth fell shut and he waited for her to answer. “Yeah, thats about the size of it.”

He took her hands. “You know that everyone already knows we’re sleeping together right? We don’t fool the servants when we say goodnight in the hall. Everyone’s aware of the secret passage. I really don’t think that waiting much longer is a good look for us.”

“I know. I just… I always thought that love should be easy like the way Sokka and Suki do it, you know? They don’t have to worry about their image or their work or thousands of people.”

He sighed. “Love it never easy Katara. Of course is it isn’t, otherwise it wouldn’t be this special. And Sokka and Suki do have to worry about it. They have the Southern Water Tribe to deal with.”

She smiled a little at him.

“Can I make you a deal?”

She narrowed her eyes but nodded anyway. 

“In one year, I’m going to ask you again. I won’t ask before that. But you have to hire more people for your foundation. You can’t continue running it alone if we’re to have a future together.”

“That’s a big thing to ask Zuko.”

“I know it is. But I can’t wait much longer. The council is pushing for marriage and heirs. They’ve been flinging suitable Fire Nation noble ladies at me for months. If I tell them that you and I have decided to take a step forward they would leave me alone. I love you Katara. So much. I can’t be the Fire Lord without you by my side okay?”

She took a deep breath. “Okay. It’s a deal.”

He smiled. “Should we seal it with a kiss?”

“You’re a dork.”

“You love me anyway.”

“I know. What was I thinking?” She leant up on her toes to kiss him. “Okay, the deal is sealed.”

She pulled him back onto the couch and picked up her scroll again.

“What are you reading?” He looked over her shoulder to glance at the story. He gasped, then spluttered.

“Katara! That’s in Fire Tongue!”

She smiled sweetly at him. “I know. I’ve been practising.”

“But… but you always said as a strong Water Tribe woman you didn’t need to know Fire Tongue until it was part of your job.”

Her smile grew. “Before I continue I’m just going to remind you that you made a promise a few minutes ago not to ask me to marry you for another year.” He looked incredulously at her. “So… I already hired a few people to continue the administration of the foundation and I’ve been working with the palace manager to set up a wing of the castle for my offices.” She paused and leant her forehead against his. “I was going to say yes the next time you asked.”

He leant back on the couch and shook his head. When he opened his eyes she was laughing. 

“But I still think there’s no rush, so one year would be perfect for me.” She leaned up to pepper little kisses all over his face. “Thank you for being patient with me though Zuko. I know I don’t make it easy on you.”

He pulled her onto his lap. “You are so worth it though Katara.”

***

Katara was kneeling amongst the kids of her class as they practiced resuscitation when she heard a group of grown up voices. She looked over and saw Zuko walking through the hallway surrounded by the usual entourage of clerks and ministers following him. She jumped up and quickly picked out the oldest kid near her. “See Mun you’re in charge. I’ll be right back.” Louder she called out. “Everyone keep going, you’re all doing fantastic. See Mun is in charge for a little while okay. I’ll be back shortly”.

She hurried away and followed the path Zuko and his staff had taken, catching up to them quickly. “Lord Zuko!” She called out. He glanced her way but continued walking and talking with the people beside him. She huffed and fell into step with the group. “Lord Zuko I -“.

“Not now Katara.” His brusque tone stung. She continued walking with the group and realised they were talking about a recent break in of the palace. She listened intently but it didn’t seem like much of an issue to her. Anyone stupid enough to break in faced the consequences, and they always got caught. When there was a natural break in the conversation, she tried again. “Lord Zuko, may I speak to you please?”

He slowed his steps and turned to face her, nodding at the others to leave them.

“Why are you avoiding me?”

“I’m not.” He continued his walking, taking long strides. Katara nearly had to run to keep up. She grabbed his arm and pulled him around to face her.

“Zuko, what on earth…?”

“I’m just very busy being the Fire Lord Katara.”

“You didn’t even come for dinner last night. Toph and Aang told me you stopped by to see them in the afternoon but we were all looking forward to reminiscing. Two years of the new age Zuko! That’s exciting! We want to celebrate with you.”

He looked around to make sure no one was around and finding it clear, he leaned towards her pushing her up against the wall with his body. Her breathing increased as he kissed her neck and pinned her arms above her head against the wall. 

She moaned and lifted one leg up to his hip. He took hold of it and pressed against her harder.

She heaved and he moved his lips down to the edge of fabric near her chest, licking along her skin there. 

With a concerted effort she freed her hands and pushed him off her. “Spirits Zuko, what are you doing? We’re out in the open, what are you thinking?” She put her arms around her waist to cover herself back up, breathing heavily and saw he was doing the same.

She rested her hands on his chest. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

He took her hands and kissed her fingers. “I’m sorry. That was inappropriate.” He turned to walk away but she grabbed his arms before he got far. 

“Hey! Don’t walk away from me. And don’t apologise for… for whatever that was. I definitely liked that.” She pulled his face down to look into his amber eyes. “Just tell me what you’re thinking.”

He took several deep breathes before speaking. “It’s Aang.”

Katara was confused. “What about Aang?”

“It’s that he’s here. And he still loves you.”

She scoffed. “How would you know? You’ve barely spent any time with him since he got here.” 

He looked down at his feet and sighed. “I can just tell these things. Its pretty easy to spot when someone is in love with your girlfriend.”

“Well. He might be in love with me - I don’t think he is but that’s beside the point - the point here actually is that I’m… in love with you.” She looked down as well, a blush colouring her cheeks. 

His head whipped up and he tried to catch Katara’s eye but she expertly avoided his gaze. He lifted her chin and held her face in both his hands to make her look at him.

“You… you love me?” He laughed and she frowned. 

She tried to push him off of her. “Don’t laugh at me. If you don’t feel the same way thats fine but don’t laugh at me for having feelings.”

This time he grabbed her and smoothed his hands gently over her arms. She shivered as goosebumps appeared where he touched her. He leaned against her and breathed out her name on an exhale. 

She hummed. She looked up at him and swallowed. “How… how do you feel about me?”

He smiled and leaned forward to brush his lips just barely against hers. She felt the warmth from his breath all over her. “Of course I love you.”

“What do you mean of course? You’ve never told me that before.”

“You’ve never said it to me before either.” He shot back.

She did push him off her this time. “Well I take mine back. You infuriate me sometimes.”

“You can’t take it back. That’s not how this works.” He grinned and reached for her waist. “You love me,” he said in singsong voice.

Her frown smoothed out and she smiled gently up at him, placing her hands around his neck as she did so. “Fine. Yes I do.”

“Good. And I said of course because I thought you must know. Ever since I tied you to a tree you’ve been etched on my mind. You scratched you’re way into my heart in the catacombs. Katara. You’re the reason I am who I’ve become. My love for you is branded on my skin.” He took one of her hands from his neck and placed it under his robes, over the scar left from Azula’s lightning. 

“But… but you can’t have. You were with Mai.” 

His smiled vanished. “I tried to love Mai but she could see that I didn’t. I broke up with her the night of my coronation and she wasn’t even mad. She could tell that I had feelings for someone else.”

“Oh. I didn’t know the reason why you two broke up.”

“When you and Aang broke up the same night and then the next day you hung out with me by the fountain… that’s when I began to hope that you might have feelings for me too.”

She smiled up at him and leaned closer, her hands encircling his waist under his clothes, making him breathe harder. “I always thought you were handsome. Even when we fought. It was hard for me to trust you when you first came to join us but everything you’ve done since then to prove your goodness to me. It kind of made not falling in love with you impossible.”

“I’m glad we’re on the same page then.”

“Yes we are. But you need to stop avoiding our friends.”

He sighed and shook his head, scrunching his face up. “I think I’d rather sit through 8 hours of policy briefings than have to tell your brother that I’m in love with you.”

“We can tell them together, okay?”

He nodded. “Together.”

“And I don’t think Aang is sill in love with me.”

“It would be too much to hope that you’d be both beautiful and smart, wouldn’t it?”

She scoffed and shoved him. 

“Of course he’s in love with you. He’d be a fool not to be”

She took his hand and lead him to go find their friends. “Come on lover boy.”

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you for reading! <3 <3


	4. Part 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one ends a bit differently and I can't leave it this way, so I'm going to have to write some more. Stay tuned.
> 
> ***
> 
> Also I made a little edit to the last chapter where the timeline of events is mentioned but it didn't make sense. I think I picked up on all the mistakes but if I missed a few, I apologise!

Zuko sat up in bed and revelled in the peaceful silence around him. It took him a minute in his sleepy state to come to the conclusion that silence in the morning meant something was terribly wrong. 

He had fallen asleep the same way he had fallen asleep for the last three weeks - sandwiched between his son and daughter. And during this time he usually awoke to an elbow in the face, a finger in his mouth, a scream, a grunt, or one unpleasant time a hefty push off the side of the bed. 

Today’s silence was unnerving. 

However, despite the curiosity and mingled fear about the kind of havoc his unsupervised children were wreaking in his palace, Zuko couldn’t help but lean back and close his eyes for a moment now and bask in the joy of peace and quiet. A smile slowly spread across his face when he remembered; Katara’s ship was due to make port today. 

Zuko roused himself and crawled out of bed. He found his children eating breakfast in the sitting room with Iroh and arguing over who would get to climb the big tree first today. He came around and kissed each of his children on the head. He took his own seat and pulled the fruit towards himself to fill his plate.

“And what are my two dragons up to this morning? Did you let me sleep in on purpose or did Uncle have to bribe you?”

“There was minimal bribing.” Iroh’s eyes crinkled into a smile.

Zuko snorted. “Yeah right. Whenever you come to visit, the stock price of sugar goes up insurmountably.” 

The little prince, Aiko, stood on his chair, “I’m not a dragon Papa, I’m a wolf!” He let out a loud howl to punctuate this notion. 

Ever the follower of her big brother, Misumi clambered to stand up on her own chair too. As she was only two years old her chubby little legs wobbled and she struggled to balance. Zuko easily reached over and pulled Misumi from her chair into his lap, lest an accident should occur before the day had even started. She giggled and turned around to place a wet kiss to his chin. “Papa!”

“Thank you for that.” He smiled down at his daughter and offered her some mango. 

“So who remembers what today is?” 

“I remember,” Iroh said happily and leant over to tickle Aiko.

“That’s wonderful Uncle, but I wasn’t really talking to you.”

“Mama’s coming back!” Aiko yelled and jumped off his chair to run around the table. “Mama! Mama! Mama! Mama’s coming back on the boat! And we get to see the boat!” 

“Mama!” Misumi clapped her hands together and reached out for Aiko as he passed them on his boundless run. “See Mama!”

“Papa can we go down to the dock’s now?”

“So we can wait there for 7 hours?” Zuko raised an eyebrow. “No.”

Aiko deflated and reseated himself on his chair. “Can we go after Misumi and me get dressed?”

“Misumi and I, Aiko.” 

“Misumi and I.” The little boy huffed out. 

“Mama’s ship will dock in the afternoon so you can do some lessons with your master this morning and…”

Aiko let out a little whine. “But this is a special day! No lessons on special days! You said!”

Zuko sighed. He had said that, although he meant about national holidays. He could understand why Aiko would be confused considering he always spoke of Katara as the most special person.

“Those are different special days. This morning you can do your lessons and then impress your Mama with what you’ve learnt while she’s been away.”

Aiko grinned. He had learnt two new forms while Katara was away and his letters were much neater he thought. Mama would be so proud of him.

“May I be excused Papa?”

“Finish your plate please.”

Aiko and Misumi chattered away as they finished their meals, while Zuko and Iroh made plans for the rest of the day. 

Zuko came with his children to help them get ready for the day, a nearly impossible task without Katara there to calm down the energetic Aiko. Since Aiko was born, Zuko and Katara had made the conscious effort to be involved in all aspects of their children’s lives, including the ones that stretched a ten minute task into a thirty minute one. 

“Owww.” Aiko pulled his head out of Zuko’s grasp. “You’re hurting me! Mama does it softer.”

Zuko kissed Aiko’s head and tried again to pull all the hair into a neat topknot. “Sorry Koko. There you go, you’re all done now.”

“Thanks Papa!” He ran out of Zuko’s arms and over to his sister. He picked her up and spun her around. “Sumi! Aren’t you excited for Mama to come home!” 

She giggled and babbled and Aiko danced around with his sister some more. Zuko leaned back and smiled. 

“Okay my little wolf, come here.” Aiko complied, bringing Misumi with him. “Uncle Iroh has kindly offered to take you for lessons this morning, but you have to behave okay?” 

Aiko jiggled with excitement. Lessons with Uncle Iroh weren’t real lessons in his opinion. How could they be when they were always fun?

“But first the four of us are going to meditate together.”

Misumi clapped her hands together and Zuko beamed at her, glad one of his children had taken after him. Though she was still young, she was excellent at her baby meditating and Zuko was so proud of her. 

Aiko on the other hand sighed and Zuko was reminded of all the times he had asked Katara to practice mindfulness with him. He took Aiko’s hand in his and led him from the room while Misumi was perched on his hip. “The sooner we meditate, the closer we will be to seeing Mama.”

Aiko laughed and let go of his fathers hand to race ahead. 

“He is so water tribe.” Zuko said to his daughter. “You’re my little dragon though aren’t you?” 

She giggled and rested her head against his shoulder, happy to be held. 

——

Katara glided down the plank, then caught site of her little family and bolted the rest of the way. Aiko ran as fast as his legs would carry him and mother and son collided with an explosion of happiness and delight.

“Oh my baby, my sweet baby! I missed you so much my little one! I can’t believe you’ve grown!” She placed a hand on either side of his face and pressed little kisses on all the skin she could reach.

“Mama! I missed you!” Aiko had begun to cry and quickly wiped away his tears. Katara wiped them away as well and Aiko latched onto her arms again. She laughed and picked him up as she made her way to her husband and little girl.

“It’s okay Baby I’m here now. Shhhhh.”

They reached Zuko and Misumi, and Katara pressed herself against him with their two children sitting on their hips between them; the perfect picture of a family. Zuko leant down to kiss her and rested his forehead against hers. “Hello love. We missed you. So much.”

Misumi had wound her arms around Katara’s neck as well and was leaning against her chest. Katara reached her other arm around her daughter and kissed her little cherub cheeks. With Aiko on one side, still crying and hugging her, and Misumi snuggled against her chest contentedly Katara was a little overcome. “Oh my darlings. I missed you so much.” She pulled them tighter and squeezed her eyes closed. 

Zuko reached out to stroke Aiko’s hair. “This ones been a little wound up all day in excitement, he might be in need of a nap soon I think.”

Katara nodded in sympathy and adjusted the four year old on her hip. “Three weeks is too long Zuko. I never want to be away from them that long again. I can’t do that again.”

“You won’t have to. I promise.” He leaned in to kiss her again and she responded in kind. He gently manoeuvred Aiko from her arms and the child clung onto his father for dear life, already getting sleepy. 

Katara took the time to look over her daughter. Finding everything in order she smiled and looked around her. “I’m glad to be home.”

The sailors around them had been hauling the goods from the ship. One of them piped up, “believe me Fire Lord she means it. For the last four days all we’ve been hearing is how excited our lady is to get back home.”

She whirled around to stare daggers at the man. He shrunk back a little. A smile cracked through her facade eventually and the man smiled shyly back at her. “Don’t act like you’re not excited to see your family too young Naga.” His smile turned sheepish. “I know you’re just as excited as I am.” He shook his head and continued unloading the ship. She called back to him, “and don’t forget what we spoke about! She has to say yes when you do what I told you!” He grinned back at her and saluted. 

“Yes My Lady. Thank you!”

“Are you a matchmaker now my love?”

“I guess you could say I dabble in it. There’s not all that much to do at sea you know.”

“I do know.” He hummed. 

They reached the litter and entered the little curtained box. Zuko and Katara opted to sit next to one another with a child on each of their laps. Zuko wound one arm around Katara’s shoulders and squeezed. She sighed and leant against him some. 

Aiko looked over at Katara. “Mama, Papa said I can show you what I learnt while you were away. Can I show you? Can I show you?”

“Of course my darling! I can’t wait.”

“Mama I drew you. Can I show you I drew you?” Misumi took Katara’s hand in her own little one. “I’ll show you don’t worry Mama.”

“Okay precious. I’m not worried at all.” Misumi patted Katara’s hand again.

“Do you think we have any onion soup in the kitchen?” Katara asked Zuko. “I’m starving.”

He looked puzzled. “You want onion soup? You hate onion soup.”

She beamed at him. “Hmmm I can think of two times in recent years when I loved onion soup.” She kissed each of her children on the head. 

“Onion soup tastes yucky,” Aiko informed them.

Zuko caught on quick. “Really?”

“Well I think. All the signs point to yes.” They leaned towards each other again.

Before their lips could meet Zuko interrupted, “And just to clarify, you’re further along than three weeks right?”

She laughed outright at that. “Aiko can you please tell your Papa not to be silly.”

Aiko didn’t really know how his Papa was being silly, nevertheless he reached up to his fathers face and said seriously “Don’t be silly Papa.”

“Okay I won’t.” He pulled Aiko closer. He rested his head against his wife’s shoulder. “I love you.”

“As I love you.”

“Do you love me?”

Katara laughed and kissed Aiko’s head and then Misumi’s as well. “I love you and you as well.” Inside her head she spoke to the newest member of their family. “I love you too.”

***

A small picnic had been set out in the courtyard with dried meats, pastries and fruits, and the gang of six heroes reclined back into the shade around it. Zuko and Katara had made their way next to each other and he was playing with her hair while she rested against his chest. Similarly, Suki and Sokka were in an identical position. Aang watched these peaceful actions and could feel the cohesiveness of the group. He pushed his own feelings away and with some effort made himself comfortable with the dynamic of the group. It wasn’t as hard as he thought it would be. 

“So what’s next for the Fire Nation?” Aang asked Zuko.

“Well Iroh is leaving us.”  
“Yeah he’s coming back with me!” Toph informed the group.

“Is he going to set up his tea shop?” Suki asked as she sat up and nibbled on some berries.

“He is.”

Sokka took one of Suki’s berries out of her hand. “Good for him.” 

“But what are you going to do here?” Aang wanted to know.

“What do you mean? I’m going to do what I always do; Fire Lord stuff.”

“I mean, don’t take this the wrong way, but Zuko you seem kind of… discontented at the moment.”

Katara looked up at Zuko from her position against him and hummed in agreement with Aang. “You do seem a bit weighed down by your work.”

“Well I don’t know what you want me to do about that. I can’t exactly stop being the Fire Lord.”

Aang thought about this for a moment. “No. But I think you should get back to your roots.”

“My roots? Aang what?”

“Well I know that you sent a team to search for your mother as soon as the war was finished Zuko. If you still think she’s out there you should look for her yourseld. Take some time and get out into the world a bit. Like you did when you were searching for me.”

“That’s not really a time I want to go back to Aang.” He pulled Katara closer against his chest and buried his face in her hair. 

“Of course you don’t, and I don’t want you to be fuelled by anger again. I mean that when you were banished you had drive and something to work towards. Now, all you have is paper pushing. You’ve even gotten out of shape.”

Zuko huffed, but he knew Aang was right. Katara had told him enough times that he was getting slower. It was a hard reminder to get from the Avatar, given their previous relationship as student and master. 

He looked around at the group. “Can… can I even do that? How would I do that?” He thought for a bit and then made a loud exhale through his teeth. “Never mind. I can’t just up and leave the nation like that.”

“I think you should consider it though.” Katara played with his fingers in hers. “Plan it out and make a timeline for when you could do it.” She turned fully to look at him. “I think it would make you happy.”

“Who could I leave in charge though?”

“Who is running the nation right now while you’re with us?” She countered.

“I don’t have a lot of experience with Fire Nation politics, but I’d be happy to palace sit for if you’d like.” Offered Aang. “And I hear I am an excellent peace keeper.”

Zuko considered it. “I guess that would work. And the council has simmered down a lot recently. I think maybe I could leave for a bit.”

“If you start preparing now, I bet you could be ready for your adventure within the year.” Suki said. “Of course you’d have to get back into training. And if you’re taking time out of your day to plan your trip then you might have to train people in new positions. Planning the logistics could take some time.”

“I’d be happy to train with you.” Katara told him. “Everyday.”

“Ha. Of course you would. Anything to kick my butt hey?”

She laughed. “This is true. But I also think this whole regime change would be really good for you. Especially without Iroh. It was time for a change to come.” She smiled at him and he nodded in reply.

“I just think you might need one more thing though.” Aang told him.

Zuko hummed.

“I think you should consider bringing Azula with you.” Aang said quietly.

A few sparks flew out of Zuko’s fingers and nearly caught the rug on fire. “Sorry.” He mumbled, rubbing out the little embers with his fingers. 

“Have you spoken to her yet?” Sokka wanted to know.

“I’ve been visiting her a couple of times a month actually.”

Katara bristled. “You never told me.”

“I’m sorry, I’m still not really sure how to feel about it yet. I only saw her for the first time about half a year ago.”

“Do you think she would be up for a search party?” Asked Toph.

“I’m not really certain about anything to do with her. But I know that she’s been missing our mother.”

“That’s something else you can think about then.” Aang said.

Zuko resumed playing with Katara’s hair. “Yep. You’ve given me a lot to think about today.”

“Sorry,” mumbled Aang. “They were just suggestions.”

Zuko turned to the younger boy. “No, it’s okay. Thank you Aang for your insight. Really.”

Aang offered a tentative smile. He felt good about the way the conversation had gone. It seemed like a bit of a sore spot to bring it up but Zuko had handled it well. And the united front of Zuko and Katara seemed strong to him, it even made him a little happy to see two important people in his life being happy again. 

***

Katara woke with a feeling in her stomach. Something she had never felt before. She rolled over and went back to sleep, curling a little closer to her boyfriend.

The next day Katara had a realisation. She hadn’t bled yet. She counted the weeks on her fingers and sighed when she confirmed she was late. She went to find the cause of her problems. 

He was eating lunch with a young minister for trade, an intelligent man who got on well with the Fire Lord. They looked up when she came in, interrupting a joke between them. She smiled tersely. 

“Master Katara.” The minister inclined his head. 

Zuko, noticing the look on her face, began to rise. “What is it?”

She tried to school her face, tried valiantly, but the frustration came through in her voice. “I need to speak with you.”

The minister rose with his noodles in his hands. “I’m going to go enjoy the sunshine I think.”

Zuko glanced at him and offered a small smile. “I’ll see you later.” To Katara he said, “what’s the matter?”

She took his hands and began to lead him from the room. He spared a remorseful glance at his lunch on the table, but followed the lady anyway. 

When they reached his living quarters she pushed him onto the couch and paced before him, wringing her hands. She looked at him nervously. 

After a few passes he pulled her down to him and she landed on his lap. He smoothed his hands down her arms. She was wont to pace when she was upset and it frustrated him when she couldn’t be direct. “Please tell me what’s wrong. You’re making me nervous.”

“I think you need to ask me to marry you again. Even though it’s not been a year.”

“Why would I do that? I promised not to.”

“Because I don’t think we should have a baby without being married to each other.”

Zuko’s head whirled. “We’re going to have a baby?” That didn’t make sense. He decided to tell her this.

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“Actually, it kind of does.” 

Zuko bit his upper lip trying to work out how.

“Last month, when the Omashu dignitaries were here and we ran out of tea.”

“But we didn’t…” 

“Not in your bedroom. But the next day when we weren’t that careful by the lake.”

“I pulled out.”

“That’s only about 80 per cent effective.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah.”

They breathed against each other for a few moments. Finally Zuko’s thoughts had clarified. “I love you. I love you and we’re having a baby.” He smiled and kissed her lips and her nose and her cheeks. He picked her up and spun her around, then immediately paused and replaced her on the couch. “Oops. No spinning. No bending either. You are now precious cargo.”

She laughed and was a little relieved by his reaction. 

“I have to go write to Uncle. He’s going to be so happy.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

He paused in the happy dance he was doing. He blushed slightly, “Yes. Hang on.” He darted from the room and returned a moment later holding a delicate box in his hand. 

He came before the light of his life, kneeling down and focussing intently on her face. 

“My beautiful, intelligent, brave Katara. You have astounded me since the day we met. You have saved me, in every way possible and you have tested me in just as many ways. And now, you’re growing our child and you’re going to make us parents. I love you more than life itself. For the 25th time, will you please marry me?”

She wiped away his tears and then immediately felt her own run down her cheeks. She smiled anyway. “Yes.”

They kissed and then Zuko presented her with a jade engagement ring, with delicate engravings and an intricate setting for the stone. 

“Did you have that speech planned already?”

“It’s changed a bit over the last year, but yeah basically.”

“It was lovely.”

“You are lovely.”

—-

Two weeks later Katara felt another flutter in her stomach. Bigger than the last time. She sat up and felt her stomach, it was too early to feel much of anything, but an uneasiness crept into her mind. She reached down and felt around and her fingers came back tipped in red. That’s when the tears began.

Zuko was roused by the sobs beside him and he immediately jumped into action. He managed to work out what Katara was trying to tell him through her cries and he pulled her against his chest to share her tears and shed his own. He summoned a healer. 

—-

The next day Katara whispered to him that it was a good thing they hadn’t gotten very far with their wedding planning. It made him cry harder. He cancelled all meetings for the next two days and the sad couple didn’t leave their bed for long time. 

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the sadness.


End file.
